In the run down to Christmas we’ll be listing some of our favourite international festive recipes.
With just days to go before the big day here are another tasty two!
Lebkunchen – Germany
These soft, tasty, lightly spiced biscuits are a Christmas staple in Germany and as they keep for several days they make a great gift.
Ingredients:
250 g Plain White Flour (Sieved)
85g Ground Almonds
2 tsp Ground Ginger
Tsp Ground Cinnamon
½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
200ml Honey
1 Lemon Zest (Orange Zest also produces a good result)
85 g Butter
Tsp Baking Powder
Icing – 100g Icing Sugar, 1 Beaten Egg White
Method:
Take a large bowl and mix all the dry ingredients together.
Melt the honey and butter together in a small saucepan over a low heat. Add the lemon zest and mix into the dry ingredients until well combined.
Once you have a soft dough cover and leave to cool
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
Roll the dough into balls (each ball should be slightly smaller than a ping pong ball)
Flatten each ball slightly and space evenly across two baking trays lined with baking parchment.
Place in the oven for 15 minutes, remove and leave to cool.
While the biscuits are cooling mix the icing sugar with the egg white and a tablespoon full of water. Dip the top of each biscuit in the icing.
Leave the icing to dry before serving and enjoy!
Avgolemono – Greece
This Christmas thousands of Greek households will be enjoying Avgolemono, a lemon and chicken flavoured soup. With its distinctive aroma, sumptuous texture and comforting taste, this makes a fantastic starter to a Yuletide meal.
Ingredients:
850ml Good Quality Chicken Stock
150g Long-grain White Rice
4 Eggs
Juice of 3 Lemons
Salt and Pepper
Parsley
Method:
Put the stock in a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
Reduce to a simmer and add the rice.
Stir occasionally and leave to cook for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, put the eggs and lemon juice in a bowl and whisk. Once frothy add a cup of the simmering stock mixture, whisk until well combined and then add to the saucepan of stock.
Cook for a further few minutes, season and garnish with parsley.
